The line stretched out the door at Monterey Bay Alternative Medicine Monday morning as hundreds showed up to legally buy recreational cannabis.

“We're just excited about legal marijuana for 2018,” said customer James Ryan.

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MBAM is the only location in Monterey County licensed to sell recreational marijuana products. The dispensary has been operating in Del Rey Oaks as a medical marijuana facility for years with no problems, and the New Year is off to a smooth start too.

“This has been one of those moments that we didn't know if there would be five people waiting here this morning -- or five hundred -- and so I am really glad to see it is more of a normal 420 crowd,” said Cecelia Lewis with MBAM.

The club predicted it would serve 1,000 customers by close of business on Monday, many wanting to be part of the 2018 legal weed buying experience.

“I just like smoking weed, and now that it is legal I can do it legally so why not,” said a man in line who identified himself as R.J. but declined to give his last name.

To buy recreational marijuana, customers must present a valid government-issued ID and become a member of the club. Security is a top priority for the business, and except for two cases of petty thefts when MBAM first opened, the business has not been a magnet for crime.

"We are lucky but we have done it right," Lewis said.

Every customer goes through a security checkpoint and the Del Rey Oaks Police Department has a substation in the same building as MBAM.

On New Year’s Day, there was a heavy police presence in the area with at least five officers patrolling the area including a K9 unit.

MBAM owners plan to open a second location this week in Salinas that will also sell recreational cannabis.

“Emerald Skyway is our Salinas location, and we should be doing a soft opening this Friday,” Lewis said.

For some at MBAM on Monday, 2018 marked the start of a whole new world, those of an older generation remember when marijuana was criminalized in the state of California.

“I had an uncle do six months for having a dirty pipe once, you know that was back in the ‘70s, but yeah I didn't think it would ever be like this,” said Ronald Ryan.

You must be 21 years or older to purchase any type of marijuana at the location. Public consumption is prohibited at MBAM and it is still illegal to smoke weed in public.

MBAM is still serving medical patients with medical cannabis cards, and those patients will save some on the tax of cannabis products.